Searching for the Pangolin!

It has been awhile since I have posted on this blog and I am sorry to have neglected those have been following me. The last year has been a bit of a whirl-wind with the starting up of my Photographic Safaris Company, and because of that all my efforts have been concentrated in that direction. So as a new post on a blog that has been a little neglected I would like to share with you my guiding career in images.

There are specific creatures and critters that are high on every wildlife guide, photographer or safari travellers list, the bucket-list animal that we would travel to the ends of the earth to find. As a professional safaris guide in Africa I have my own “Bucket-list” of critters that I want to tick off, on top of this list has been the Cape or Ground Pangolin (Manis temminckii), which are found for the greater part in Southern and eastern Africa. Although they are relatively widespread and are found in a myriad of habitats, these animals are rare, having been placed on the IUCN Red Data List as an Endangered species.

In this post I want to take you on a visual journey, my journey as a Field Guide and wildlife photographer, following my career over the past 14 years. I hope to share some of my experiences with you in pictures, from the beginning until the day I found my Pangolin. Starting off using 35mm slide film and hopefully maturing as a photographer into the digital age. The following have been chosen on their merit as images of memorable sightings I have had during my career and images that I personally think are a cut above the rest. I hope that they convey my story to you until we find the Pangolin together.

 2003 - 4 years into guiding and my first SLR Camera. Canon EOS 8 (Analogue)

At this point of my photographic career I was just clicking away and didn't realize the fundamentals of photography and what all the bits and bobs my camera could allow me to do. It was through my guiding mentor, Lee Gutteridge, that I learnt more then just the basics and my photography got better as I went along.

2004 – 2009  I had made the move from an analogue SLR to Canons EOS 20D Dslr.

2010 – Present  The Big boys come out and I purchased myself Canons EOS 7D. It is with this camera that I have ended my guiding career in the lodge industry and now, since 2012, we started Untamed Odyssey and busy myself with freelance guiding within Southern Africa.

These images are just a small collection from many years in the industry while "searching for the Pangolin", I think there is an obvious change in quality, especially from the first few years of photography. Lately I have been on a mission to tick off some of the rarer species, and the Pangolin has been right at the top of my Bucket list. Over the past year I have been lucky enough to visit and guide at Tswalu Private Game Reserve in the Kalahari which finally brought the end to my Pangolin search, when on the 7 of October my guests and I were privileged  to find one of these odd-ball critters in its natural environment.

Notice the smile on my face!

Thank you for taking the time out and joining me in my "Search for the Pongolin".